Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar defended reports about treating her staff poorly, saying she is tough enough to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin if elected president.

Klobuchar was one of the first Democratic senators to announce her candidacy for the 2020 presidential campaign. The Minnesota Democrat made the announcement on Feb. 10 in her home state. After her announcement, reports broke that she has a history of allegedly being rude to staff, making many of her employees cry, as well as reportedly hitting one of her staffers with a binder.

“If you are a boss, you have to have high standards, and that is what I have always had. And that doesn’t mean it’s a popularity contest all the time,” Klobuchar said in an interview with CNN released Thursday. “And so I’ve had high standards for myself, high standards for our staff, and mostly I’m going to have high standards for the country.”

Klobuchar also said whoever is going to be president next needs to be “tough” in order to deal with Putin.

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